Asta.

[Vehemently.] Oh, don’t say that!

Allmers.

Yes, it is true. He did not love you—not as he ought to have.

Asta.

[Evasively.] No, perhaps not as he loved you. That was only natural.

Allmers.

[Continuing.] And he was often hard to your mother, too—at least in the last years.

Asta.

[Softly.] Mother was so much, much younger than he—remember that.